Highlights include: 1) Landed in Amsterdam and went through customs; 2) Grabbed coffee and relaxed; 3) Put water in my camelback then dumped it when I realized that we couldn’t bring it on the plane (duh)!; 4) Took off sitting next to a linguist living in Uganda and translating the Bible into area languages. What a useful skill set and oh how I wish he weren’t so bitter; 5) Tired so slept and landed late evening in Kampala.

Africa! Made it through customs easily. All of our group piled their bags on the two carts I got. Then…I saw Henry!! From St. Thomas in Minnesota. My Ugandan friend from the St. Paul campus bookstore! I had no idea that Charles, our host in Kampala, was Henry’s uncle. Both Henry and I laughed hard at the surprise of seeing each other. Kaye later told me that she liked that I knew someone. Somehow that was assuring to me and to her. The airline lost one bag so Nate had nothing for the evening. He was a trooper about it. We went to Charles’ home for a meal and I was quite surprised. It had marble floors and arc greco ceilings. We ate sausage and potato pasties. Our Tanzania group traveled this far with a Vision Trip from St. Thomas. That group would stay with Charles and our group would move on to Tanzania tomorrow. We left and went to Charles’ sister’s home. This home had an armed guard at the gate, a tall barricade (wall) and barbed wire over the wall. I was too tired and in my ‘accept everything while you travel mode’ to wonder too much about it. We unloaded the van. Kaye, Ann and I slept in a room with foam mattresses and a mosquito net. Charles’ sister was very nice. The toilet was an indoor pit latrine. We were glad to have it. Ann and I slept in the same bed and unsual for me under such conditions – I actually slept.

Charles Lugemwa, Kampala Host
Director of Hope Medical Clinics, Kampala, Uganda